1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a whirlpool bathtub having devices for generating jets of water and/or air which can be supplied to the tub interior at a plurality of places of the tub wall. Each individual device, capable of being powered for generating a water and/or air jet, is installed in an opening in the tub wall and is charged with propulsive power from the outside of the tub. Each device has a pump housing with a pump chamber in which an impeller wheel is disposed on a rotatably seated drive shaft extending perpendicularly to the tub wall. The pump chamber is covered towards the tub interior with a triangular nozzle screen. The impeller wheel aspirates water axially from the tub interior through centered aspiration openings of the nozzle screen and returns it through at least one conduit originating in the pump chamber back into the tub interior. The conduit, or conduits, starts at the portion of the pump chamber which encloses the impeller wheel around its periphery. The impeller wheel has radially directed feed conduits extending from the axial aspiration opening.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A whirlpool bathtub of this type is disclosed by German Letters Patent DE-PS 38 12 519 in which the conduit, or conduits, extends from the pump chamber and is disposed in the nozzle screen which encloses the impeller wheel around its periphery and forms a portion of the pump chamber. For admixing air to the water jet, air conduits of the pump housing terminate in the conduit of the nozzle screen. Thus, the jet openings of the nozzle screen are always in the same place so that the jet cannot be adjusted and introduced into the tub interior in a different direction. In addition, it is necessary, during the installation of the device in the opening of the bathtub, to assure that the pump housing is correctly positioned for the desired direction of the jet and the connection of the nozzle screen.
It is also known for obtaining different jet patterns to use devices with whirlpool bathtubs of this type having different nozzle screens which enclose the periphery of the impeller wheel of the pump and are provided with a different conduit (or conduits), as disclosed by German Letters Patent DE-PS 38 00 400. However, in this case, the direction of the emitted jet (or the emitted jets) remains the same because all nozzle screens are connected to the pump housing in the same predetermined position.